Blue Heaven

When the ever-penniless Gilbert Selwyn attends the wedding of his stepfather's niece, Steffie, he discovers a hitherto-unsuspected source of ready cash. Observing his new extended family standing in line to bestow bulging envelopes and expensive cappuccino machines on the happy couple, both he and his reluctantly invited 'date', Moira Finch - a girl whose bare-faced greed surpasses even his own - arrive at the same conclusion: why not get married for the gifts? The trifling objections raised by Gilbert's sexuality (he's gay), his loathing of the bride-to-be, and the apparently Mafioso tendencies of the stepfamily the pair intend to swindle are brushed aside in a haze of champagne cocktails, and the Plan is on. Dragged helplessly in its wake is Philip Cavanagh, Gilbert's ex-lover and intended Best Man, as the trio struggle against increasingly alarming twists of Fate, piling deception on deception in an effort to bring the awful day to a successful conclusion. Joe Keenan is hailed on the cover as 'the award-winning writer of Frasier' - and it shows. The convoluted plot is worthy of P G Wodehouse - fans of Bertie Wooster in particular will recognize a 1990s take on the exploits of that hapless individual - but is often used as a vehicle for one-line jokes and sitcom-style set pieces. Having said that, this is a book that begs to be finished: the sheer magnitude of the disasters befalling the hapless plotters, and the corresponding lunacy of their schemes to extricate themselves at every wrong turn, ensure the pages keep on turning. The plotters themselves and their attendant hangers-on - not to mention the ridiculously Sicilian Cellini family - are absolutely memorable and entirely lacking in redeeming qualities: Vile Bodies meets The Godfather. The finale? Calamity outdoes calamity and one is left with impression of an overly lengthy and particularly vulgar episode of Frasier. (Kirkus UK)